For a moment, it seemed like Harry Kane’s dream of winning the Ballon d’Or had come true.
Shortly after 17:15 GMT on Monday, an article from the award’s official website titled “Harry Kane wins 2026 Ballon d’Or” began circulating online.
It took more than four and a half hours before the winner of gaming’s most prestigious individual award was announced at a prestigious event at London’s Palladium Theatre.
The widespread distribution of the article sowed confusion on the web, with some wondering if France Football, the organizer of the prize, had failed to keep secret the winner, elected by journalists at the end of September.
That was until further research on the Ballon d’Or website revealed that some of the other favorites to win the award – including Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe – had also written and published similar articles about them.
Asked about the BBC Sport reports, a Ballon d’Or spokesperson said: “Some nominee profiles prepared by BallonDor.com were inadvertently published online.
“These articles have been prepared for all nominees and should in no way be taken as an indication of final results or rankings”
Just before 5:40 p.m. BST, articles about Kane and Mbappe were removed from the website.
Similar articles have also been written about London City Lionesses star Alexia Putellas and Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor, who are two of the favorites for the corresponding women’s prize, which will also take place on Monday evening.
If Kane wants to realize his dream and become the first Englishman to win the award since 2001, he will have to wait a little longer to find out.
Gn sports
